Forming what amounts to a trilogy with Albert Marrin’s The Sea King: Sir Francis Drake and His Times (1995) and Ralph C. Staiger’s Thomas Harriot, Science Pioneer (not reviewed), this absorbing story of an adventurer’s adventurer takes readers from the brilliant, intrigue-ridden court of Queen Elizabeth to the unmapped reaches of North and South America, from dizzying heights of wealth and success to years of imprisonment and a traitor’s death. Aronson (Art Attack: A Short Cultural History of the Avant-Garde, 1998) portrays Ralegh as an upstart who rose high thanks to prodigious intellect, ability, and ambition, plus a “taste for total risks that brought the chance of greater glory,” but who was plagued, and ultimately killed, by his own misjudgments. With side excursions to Queen Elizabeth’s reign and “court of love,” the war with Spain, the predatory attitude with which European powers regarded the Americas, and the seductive legend of a vast hidden hoard of Inca treasure guarded by a golden man, “El Dorado,” Aronson not only details Ralegh’s career as soldier, sailor, explorer, writer, and schemer but consistently discusses causes, effects, and the broader significance of events large and small. Readers will be as riveted by his strong, dramatic writing as they are enlightened by his wide-ranging analyses. Illustrated with contemporary maps and prints, backed by capacious endnotes, this is as much a study of a culture at the threshold of the modern era as it is a tribute to one of the grand and grandly flawed figures who led the charge across that threshold. (index, timeline, cast of characters, author’s note, map, glossary, endnotes, bibliography) (Biography. 12+)
Pub Date: May 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-395-84827-X
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2000
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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